TV preview: Bodyshockers

Katie Piper’s a busy bunny at the moment. As well as juggling her charity and media work, she’s preparing for the imminent birth of her first child, a daughter – not that she’s complaining in the slightest.

“I definitely feel my life right now is at a high point, compared to the extreme lows,” she says, smiling.

And Piper’s definitely had her share of extreme lows. It’s almost six years since a stranger approached her in the street and threw sulphuric acid in her face, leaving the aspiring model severely scarred and facing endless operations.

The horrendous attack was organised by a man who’d assaulted Piper in a hotel room two weeks prior.

This is public knowledge, because a year later, Piper gave up her right to anonymity to share her story in Channel 4’s Cutting Edge documentary, the Bafta-nominated Katie Piper: My Beautiful Face.

Today, she admits the decision to give up her privacy’s had both a positive and negative impact.

“It’s a majorly positive thing for myself, and I’d like to think for other people with burns and scars. I’d never moan about it, because I’m really fortunate with all the support I’ve received and all the positive feedback. That’s been amazing,” says the petite 30-year-old who lost sight in her left eye during the attack and is still undergoing treatment on scar tissue.

“But there’s no day off once you’ve gone out there and spoken about that,” she continues. “It’s not like being a famous singer and people come up to talk about your latest single.

“People come up and talk about one of the worst things that’s ever happened to me.”

Naturally, she has days where she’d prefer not to, but she’d never turn anyone away.

“You don’t know their story, so I think you should always give people the time.”

Since the initial documentary, Piper’s appeared in various programmes, including documentaries Katie: My Beautiful Friends, Katie: The Science Of Seeing Again, and series Hotel GB - all for Channel 4. “They aren’t afraid to push the boundaries,” she says of the channel.

Given everything she’s been through, the subject matter of her new TV project, Bodyshockers, might seem like a curious choice.

It examines the craze for body modification. Along the way, Piper hears from those hoping to reverse procedures, and others about to go ahead with major body work. It might be self-inflicted but that’s no reason to judge, she says.

“In life, you can’t go around saying, ‘Well, you chose that so however unhappy you are, that’s your fault and you’re stuck with it’. I don’t think that’s a very reasonable way to look at things,” she says. “If it’s stopping them doing serious things in life that we all want to do, then we shouldn’t be dismissive of that just because they chose it at the beginning.”

Piper believes the trend for ever more invasive and permanent modifications stems from the fact that people have to go further to make a statement these days.

“When I was younger, dying your hair red was quite outrageous, but thankfully that washes out,” she says, laughing.

In episode two, My Piercing Hell, Katie meets a girl with a tattoo and stretched earlobes who wants to restore her natural look.

“She’d stretched her earlobes to 30mm and was walking home from the pub one night when somebody ran up behind her, yanked her earlobes and ripped them in two. It was almost like she’d been left with two bits of bacon hanging down and she had people discriminating against her in the street.”

The show isn’t about “telling people off”, the mum-to-be stresses.

“Emily should be allowed to express herself through her appearance because it’s a free world, but what started as body adornment was holding her back, and she wanted to reverse it.”

Piper’s experienced negative reactions herself. “I do understand people looking at visible differences, but I don’t understand people being rude and asking intrusive questions,” she says.

“I think that’s why it’s important to raise awareness of burns and scars, because some people don’t know what it is or understand it.”

It’s why she set up her charity, The Katie Piper Foundation, in 2009, to help people living with burns and scars. “It’s thriving. We’ve got a team of five people working there full-time and what’s really great is the ones who came to us [for support] in the beginning are actually helping as volunteers now.”

Of course, something else that’s blooming is Piper herself. The pregnancy’s meant that her regular treatments have had to take “a bit of a back seat”.

“I have a lot of problems with scar tissue forming inside my nose, so I’m still having treatment. But now I’m expecting my first child, I can’t have operations or anaesthetic and I’m finding it hard to breathe at the moment.”

But it’s a small sacrifice.

“I’m really enjoying what I’m doing as a career. I’m at a point where I didn’t know I’d ever be,” she says happily. “I’m really grateful.”